Today I made space for myself and really opened myself up. I am traveling out of the country to attend a conference next month and so I was looking through my closet to make sure I had appropriate clothing to wear. As I stood there surveying my clothes, I scanned quite a few articles that I had not worn in some time. I felt moved in that moment to purge. So I went through the articles in my closet, hanger by hanger, and plucked the ones that fulfilled the “haven’t been worn in one year or more” rule. Soon a sea of clothes grew on the bed.

Then I turned to my dresser drawers, grabbing handfuls of tees that had not been worn in ages and shorts that were no longer flattering.

After I was done, I had a large pile of clothing that I will take to a local shop that resells clothes to the community at super duper crazy low prices. These were articles that were all in great shape, name brand, some barely worn, and it felt great to know that they soon would have a new home and new owners who would be kind enough to let them see the light of day.

I was left with extra space in my closet and drawers, and I felt so much lighter, physically. It felt great.

Next I moved on to my next freeing exercise: yoga. Now I have long been a pooh-pooh-er of yoga. I am built like a swimmer/runner so my hip flexors remain tight, and flexibility has always been difficult for me. But after feeling achy from being sick and still feeling incredibly congested and not able to breathe very well, I didn’t want to do a normal routine of strength training or cardio. Yet I still wanted to get some movement in. So I thought, why not try yoga?

Yoga is allll about breathing, which is problematic for me for two reasons. 1. I have learned that I actually hold my breath a lot without even realizing it. It’s a stress response, but it also means your body is not as oxygenated as it could be. 2. My nasal passages are still very much clogged because of this nagging head cold. But I decided I’d try it anyway.

I found a dailyyoga channel on my firestick and selected a 20-minute session. It was an instructional video that thankfully featured a person doing the poses as someone narrated the viewer through them. I was a bit hesitant at first considering I wasn’t able to breathe very well, but after a few deep inhales and exhales, I was moving along fairly well.

At the end of the 20 minutes, you lie on your back in corpse pose or Shavasana, and as I’m lying there, I realize that I can breathe fully and with ease and my body feels open and relaxed. I had achieved freedom yet again.

The idea of freeing space in my physical environment as well as in my physical body is freeing itself. You get rid of the clutter and congestion and make room for so many new and healthy things to come into your life.

When I returned to my bedroom, I looked at my closet and recognized that there are a few more items that I can get rid of. I’m also looking forward to another session of yoga tomorrow. And now I’m really excited to see what new things are now ready to enter into my freer life.